← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Preserved Mather
Thread ID: 6567 | Posts: 3 | Started: 2003-05-08
2003-05-08 23:34 | User Profile
I've sat on this story for awhile, and I'm glad the links are still active.
[url=http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/23727]Broadband Reports[/url]
** Ohio police this past summer shocked broadband users nationwide by engaging in an unprecedented and frighteningly severe crackdown of area customers who had uncapped their cable modems. In conjunction with the FBI, 17 Buckeye cable users were served warrants, seven of whom had their possessions taken, face fifth-degree felony charges (punishable by up to one year in prison), and have had their lives changed forever.
For the record, uncapping ( hacking your modem in order to gain access to untapped bandwidth) is not legal. Those who perform the practice can expect retaliation from their broadband provider, and should expect serious repercussions for doing so. That said, one Ohio ISP has taken punishment for the practice to an unprecedented level that should raise the eyebrows of providers, customers, and concerned citizens alike.
The Block family is the Rupert Murdoch of Toledo, Ohio. The company controls several major area newspapers (including The Toledo Blade), one of the area's television stations (TV5 Toledo), a dial up provider, Buckeye Cable, and much more. As such, their control over the political system in the area is considerable, a fact that may under-ride the horrifying journey several individuals are taking through the area's legal gauntlet because they uncapped their cable modems.
Paul Shryock, vice president of information technology at Buckeye Cablesystem, discovered that twenty three of his subscribers were getting more juice from their connections than they paid for. According to an interview in a recent Cable World article, Shyrock noted that one subscriber had "altered his modem to handle 100 megabits per second, up and downstream", though the company could never realistically even obtain such speeds.
... **
Now, this is unnecessary roughness. I am given to understand that the usual way of dealing with cable service thieves, when detected, is to send them a bill for as many premium services, late fees, interest charges and the like that you can dream up. And invite the miscreant to pay up now or talk to our lawyers.
But sending in the FBI? When I saw this, my jew-o-meter pegged all the way over to 10.
Sure enough, a few minutes with Google turned this up:
[url=http:////www.library.pitt.edu/guides/archives/ncjw.pdf]National Council of Jewish Women Oral History Project[/url]
Pardon for having trouble cutting and pasting from a .pdf file, but on P.33 of said document, Mr. William Block of Pittsburg, Publisher, with interests in Toledo, is definitely identified as a tribesman. My intuition did not fail me.
As the Broadband Reports article concludes:
** When the Block family first came to Toledo, Paul Block was rumored to have said he was going to "rip down Toledo and rebuild it in his image". The behavior of Buckeye Cablesystem has many wondering exactly what kind of image he had in mind. **
Isn't that always the way with those people?
2003-05-08 23:40 | User Profile
Welcome aboard, Mather. These poor folks are probably stuck in an area where DSL is not yet available. Get DSL if you can, over cable broadband. Cable can turn into an imitation of a 14.4 modem when a lot of people in your area are surfing the net.
As to the background of the Blocks. No surprise. There are so many backroom deals and payoffs made around the country to make sure that tribemen get the area contracts for cable TV outlets, the public would be astounded if they found out. Of course, mention of this makes me a horrible, anti-semitic, holocaust denying racist. But, truth is truth.
2003-05-08 23:47 | User Profile
Thanks for the kind greetings, Roger.
I'm still sipping from a 56k straw, actually. Boston was very slow to get broadband, and now that we do have it, the technology depression is forcing me to pinch pennies. Besides, we've got a nice T1 line at work, with noone much caring how we use it as long as we meet our schedules. B)